1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to flexible ammunition chuting for feeding ammunition to a machine gun.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In our prior European patent application number 0,230,111, there is described a feed system for supplying a belt of linked ammunition to a traversable gun which is mounted for wide angle movement. Such a gun may have an angle of azimuth varying as much as 200.degree. and may also be required to tilt upwardly and downwardly by for example 15.degree. and 45.degree. respectively.
Ammunition cartridges supplied to the gun are linked in the form of a belt or clipped side by side and are guided to the firing chamber of the gun by flexible chuting which must be sufficiently long to allow for the movement of the gun to any position in its range of movement, any slack in the chuting forming a loop as described in our prior patent specification.
It has been found that, because of the construction of the flexible chuting in the form of relatively slidable and articulating links, the links may close up together or become over stretched in response to forces resulting from movement of the gun and turret. This leads to loss of flexibility of the chuting which in turn could lead to ammunition jams or to restriction of the travel of the gun.